MBA: April Applications for New Home Purchases Down
Mortgage Bankers Association Builder Application Survey data for April show mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased by 11 percent from March.
The change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
“The index decline in April is more than likely a result of both February and March seeing a strong surge in applications for new homes and the index not being seasonally adjusted,” said MBA Vice President of Research and Economics Lynn Fisher. “Last year, peak applications occurred in March.”
By product type, conventional loans composed 67.8 percent of loan applications, FHA loans composed 18.3 percent, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.6 percent and VA loans composed 13.3 percent. The average loan size of new homes decreased from $328,898 in March to $325,233 in April.
MBA estimated new single-family home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 503,000 units in April, based on data from the BAS. The seasonally adjusted estimate for April represents a decrease of 12.4 percent from March (574,000 units). On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimated 48,000 new home sales in April, a decrease of 11.1 percent from 54,000 new home sales in March.
The new home sales estimate is derived using mortgage application information from the BAS, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors.
The MBA Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across the country. Using these data, as well as data from other sources, MBA provides an early estimate of new home sales volumes at the national, state and metro level. These data also provide information regarding types of loans used by new home buyers. Official new home sales estimates are conducted by the Census Bureau on a monthly basis. In those data, new home sales are recorded at contract signing, which is typically coincident with the mortgage application.
For additional information on MBA’s Builder Applications Survey, click https://www.mba.org/news-research-and-resources/forecasts-data-and-reports/single-family-research/servicing-operations-study-and-forum-for-prime-and-specialty-servicers-x75411.
